The Fall of Voltaire
by Nightfall169
Summary: AU. Challenge: pick a song and incorporate the lyrics into the fic. Song: Zombie by The Cranberries. Not a songfic. One-shot. Rei falls apart after his battle with Bryan. Unfortunately for Voltaire, Kenny's recorded the whole thing...


Challenge: pick a song and fit the lyrics somehow into the story. I used Zombie by The Cranberries.

Disclaimer: I don't own Beyblade

Yes I use the Japanese spelling of Rei's name. idk 'Ray' just makes me angry for some reason.

Note: PLEASE READ TO THE END (plot twists are involved)

Also, I consider Beyblade to take place in the far future. That might clear up the year reference you'll get further down.

* * *

The battle was finally over. The crowd cheered for a moment, cheered for Rei's victory. He won against such odds, such a ruthless opponent. He'd earned the applause, but he'd never hear them. Rei first doubled over and then fell. Applause ceased as nurses rushed in with a stretcher and carried Rei out of the stadium. The Blade Breakers were allowed to follow only as far as the door. Tyson stood there for a minute, staring at it in shock, willing, _praying_ for Rei to be okay. For everything to be alright. Max was trying very hard not to cry. Kai stood behind everyone else, like always, arms folded and expressionless. This was not the way the game should go.

There was only silence after that. Some in the audience simply stood up and left. Mariah descended to the floor to join Tyson, placing her forehead on his shoulder. He placed an arm around her but was probably only vaguely aware of her presence. The rest of the White Tigers slowly came down as well, not really knowing what to do with themselves. Rei won, but…

"Umm, Kai?" Kenny snuck up, clutching his computer, "You might want to see this."

He led Kai over to the bench and opened his laptop.

"I started recording the match early, and, well, I know I'm not the best at reading lips, but…"

He hit play and the recording showed Voltaire walking up to Bryan before the match, casually leaning over to say something, and then quickly leaving. Kai snatched up the computer and replayed the beginning twice more. Then, suddenly snapping it shut, he shoved it into Kenny's face and sped away. Kenny was left clutching his computer, staring into space, horrified.

. . . . . . . . . . . .

Meanwhile, Judy was already making her way to the Judge's Chamber, decidedly unhappy that the judges let the battle go on.

_No battle with that amount of injury should be allowed to go on. It was barbaric! Practically gladiatorial!_

She found the judges already deep in deliberation, a mix of languages filling up the room with confused argument. She slammed her papers down on the bureau, silencing the entire council.

"Now I don't know where you all were looking, but a kid was practically getting slaughtered out there!"

The judges blinked at her. One raised a hand to speak.

"Ai'm sori, but – "

"Sorry is not nearly enough! Rei is in critical condition!"

"Miss – "

"Need I remind you that this is a _game_. There is nothing here to die for!"

She stared straight into the judge's face, until he finally relented. He looked down and wiped his face with his hands.

"Мы признаем серьезное нарушение правил игрока Браина Кузецова и с этого момента, его участие в любых турнирах запрещено," he said through his fingers.

One of the judges paused, then picked up a phone, stuck a finger in her ear and started rattling off orders. Some others started flipping through papers and files, furiously scribbling, and Judy let out a relieved sigh.

. . . . . . . . . . . .

Kai did not run down that hallway. He never runs unless he absolutely has to, so he simply walked as quickly as humanly possible down to Voltaire's control room. He looked about as calm as he ever did, so slamming the door open with a deafening crash was the only thing to betray his inner rage.

"Сынок!" attempted Voltaire, jumping out of his large office chair

"Don't. You. Dare." Kai hissed through his teeth

Voltaire's smug smile fell back to its neutrally serious default.

"What were you thinking?! That I wouldn't notice? That I wouldn't be able to spot your influence out there? I grew _up_ on your war stories, _grandfather_." Kai spat

"I was only doing what was necessary."

"Don't give me that. You know what you did. The same thing that you've been doing all your life, the same old thing since '204. It's been decades and you can't let it go!"

"I don't know what you're talking about!" Voltaire bellowed, his voice momentarily drowning out the hum of his computers. Kai folded his arms and glared his grandfather straight in the face until he was forced to take half a step back.

"It never ended for you, did it? The war. In _your_ head, they're _still_ fighting. You still see the soldiers that overran the city. You can still hear them, can't you? With their tanks and their bombs and their guns…" his voice was low and quiet now. Nothing good ever came from that voice.

. . . . . . . . . . . .

Judy was finished with cross-cultural cooperation for today. She'd gotten the council's petition for blacklisting Bryan to the President, who had been hesitant to acquiescing to any request made by a Russian authority. Until he found out that Judy herself had been the one to insist upon the ban, that is. Multiple other governments were contacted, the central BBA being the most important of course. Their appeal was put on hold, but with Mr. Dickinson's endorsement, it should go through in a matter of days. Judy sighed, rubbed her eyes, and took off her headband. Just then, the door to the Judges' Chamber opened. It was Max who stumbled into the room, silencing everyone, even the judge speaking to India on the phone.

"What's wrong Max?" Judy's soft voice broke the stillness as Max's figure continued to make its way into the room, in fits and starts, accompanied by broken sobs. Judy knelt down when he finally reached her and clutched the front of her jacket.

"Mom?"

"Yes, sweetie."

"M-mom..?"

"What is it, what happened?"

"I-it's Rei. H-he, he's gone." Max breathed

"_What?_"

"The monitor…he's dead, mom." Max was shaking now, surrounded by quiet gasps that sounded deceptively like an afternoon breeze.

"Oh, Max." Judy clasped her child to her chest, eyes leaking tears she hadn't shed in a long time. She was glad it had not been her son, but Max had lost a dear friend, and they all lost someone who had inspired them with his cool confidence and light-heartedness. There was guilt too, guilt for not having done something, _anything_ during the match, other than stand transfixed, frozen in panic. Max cried into her shirt for a while, before suddenly and forcefully pushing away from her.

"Oh! No, mom, you have to do something!"

"What do you mean?"

"It-it's what Kenny said! He taped the whole thing!"

"What are you talking about Max? You're not making any sense-"

"The _tape_, mom! Before the fight! Kenny taped it and he saw Voltaire speak to Bryan and he showed Kai and...well...Voltaire told Bryan to do it."

"What." this was the last thing that Judy wanted to hear that day

"Ai'm on it." The judge put India on hold and contacted security, calling for Voltaire's immediate arrest, and for the first time that day, Judy was thankful that they were in Russia.

. . . . . . . . . . . .

Meanwhile, Kai was still firmly sandwiched between Voltaire and his escape route, with no intentions of going anywhere. If Kenny had any practicality to his brains, he would be getting the police right now and in that case, Kai was going to personally make sure that Voltaire would be detained at the very least.

"What you did was stupid."

"What I did was right!" Voltaire grabbed the table, openly seething now.

"Like _hell it is_! The only reason you can even _begin_ to defend what you did is because he's Chinese!"

"Ha! And a filthy flea-bitten _neko_ to boot!" Voltaire sneered, hands shaking, whether in anger or in fear he would never know.

"I don't _fucking care_ what he is! The war is over! Don't you get it? Over! That might have been what _you_ saw of them as a kid, but they've moved on! They've moved on, but you, but you haven't! "

"But you see- "

"See what?! I'm fucking tired of hearing you say that! Just because it's not me, it's not my family, you're totally fine with killing someone?! Someone who was never related to the war at all?!"

Kai sighed and unfolded his arms.

"Well, if the great _Kai_ says so, then clearly, I must be mistaken."

Kai sneered, but his response was cut off by the door slamming open and the entrance spewing out officers. Voltaire was quickly surrounded by Russian uniform blue, too frozen to resist being handcuffed. Kai relaxed visibly, giving Voltaire one last smirk before leaving.

. . . . . . . . . . . .

Max returned from the top floor looking more haggard than he did when he left. Kenny ran up to him to ask if he delivered the evidence, but Max gave him a dead look. Having Voltaire arrested was cold comfort and Kenny wasn't sure who was taking it worse, Max or Tyson. Kai appeared as well, looking somehow lighter since the end of the match. It was then that Tyson decided to move from his vigil at the door.

"Kai" he breathed feebly, but Kai gave no answer, as usual.

"Kai he's gone." Tyson said a little louder, a slightly hysterical note worming its way into his voice

Kai's eyes widened slightly and he was knocked backward a step by Tyson, who had decided to attack his chest in order to cry into his shirt. He gingerly placed his hands on Tyson's shoulders, wondering where Mariah was. Surely she would be better at this. They could comfort each other…

Mariah appeared just a few minutes later, breaking the deathly silence with a creak of the door and a "You're _never_ going to guess what just happened!" Everyone looked up, wondering what had come over her, when through the door, came an oddly green-eyed Rei. Kenny, Max and Tyson openly gaped as Mariah waltzed around them in glee and the rest of the White Tigers followed Rei out, both tired and relieved. Kai dislodged Tyson from himself, seeing no more reason to comfort the no longer crying boy.

"What. The heck happened?" Max was the first to speak up

"Driger, he…he saved me. I died, but he brought me back."

"But, but _how_?"

"Well," Rei sighed and pulled out his beyblade. The chip in the center was blank.

"He's in _here_ now." Rei patted his chest, giving a slight smile

"D'you mean he's in your _body_?" Tyson finally regained the gift of speech

"Yeah. We kind of share it now. It's kind of peaceful actually."

"That's awesome!"

Leave it to Tyson to see the good in everything.

After that there was much celebration. They decided to all go to a restaurant and spend the evening watching movies together. They'd even managed to get Kai to stay most of the evening. Tyson ate too much again and was asleep by the end of the first movie. By two in the morning, only Lee and Rei were left awake. Rei was far more awake than he should have been. Lee rolled lazily onto his stomach.

"Hey Rei."

"Huh?"

"Does this mean you can't Beyblade anymore?"

Rei chuckled.

"Watch this."

He curled his fingers around his blade and for a moment, it shone green. He placed in on the wooden floor and it started spinning.

* * *

Thank you for reading!


End file.
